Dior Dreams On A Kmart Budget

Breakfast with Ita Buttrose

Yesterday, thanks to being a Sister Club member at Priceline, I got to have breakfast with Australian of the Year, Ita Buttrose! Well, me and about 150 other people, but it was Ita nonetheless.

For those of you who don’t know who Ita is she is an Australian journalist and businesswoman. She was the founding editor of Cleo, a magazine aimed at women aged 20 to 40 that was open about sexuality (and used to feature nude male centrefolds *ahem*), and later as the editor of Australian Women’s Weekly. Basically she’s an amazing woman who’s had a fabulous career, a role model for women of all ages.

At the breakfast Ita shared some really fascinating insights from her career as an editor, having to deal with working in a male-orientated business. She also touched on health and well being particularly her more recent work with Alzheimer’s Australia and her appointment as Australian of the Year 2013. It was a truly inspiring morning listening to her speak. The two biggest points that struck a chord with me were:

For example, if a man and a woman were both applying for a job, unless the woman is 100% confident in knowing she can do the role (even if she’s 90% capable) she won’t accept the offer. Whereas men will go for it even if they’re 70% capable of the task. We need to have the courage to accept the role and work toward the remaining 10% rather than talk ourselves out of it.

Her top beauty tip was SLEEP! Being women, we tend to think we can get away without as much as we need. Her recommendation is at least 7 hours a night.

It was a fabulous morning out with an absolutely delicious hot breakfast and meeting some interesting people, and it was great to know that 100% of my ticket price will support Alzheimer’s Australia.